Personality traits, empathy and bullying behavior: A meta-analytic approach☆
Introduction
Bullying, “the most malicious and malevolent form of deviant behavior widely practiced in our schools” (Tattum & Lane, 1989, p. 1), started to appear in the psychological literature from Norway (Olweus, 1978, Olweus, 1989), Britain (Smith, 1991), North America (Dodge, Coie, Pettit, & Price, 1990), and Australia (Rigby & Slee, 1993). In the early 1990s, bullying was identified as a sub-type of children's aggressive behavior (Dodge et al., 1990). Current research indicates that approximately 10 to 30% of children and youth are involved in bullying at school, but its prevalence rates vary significantly due to how bullying is defined, how it is measured and which classification criteria are used (Cook et al., 2010, Nansel et al., 2001, Solberg and Olweus, 2003).
Although the research focusing on children's characteristics involved in bullying dates back to at least the 1980s (see Rigby, 2002, for a review), investigations on personality influences were not prevalent until the middle of the 1990s. Until then, adverse results had been reported (Bjorkqvist et al., 1982, Lowenstein, 1978). Our review suggests that although some findings have revealed that some personality variables are positively associated with bullying and negatively with victimization (e.g., ⁎Mynard and Joseph, 1997, Olweus, 1978, ⁎Slee and Rigby, 1993), other results have shown that personality variables predict greater levels of bullying behavior only regarding gender and the bully status of those involved (e.g., Andreou, 2000, ⁎Menesini et al., 2010, ⁎Mynard and Joseph, 1997). To date, no meta-analysis has examined the relationship between personality variables, bullying, and victimization behavior with the only exception of a meta-analysis on personality traits and aggressive behavior (Bettencourt, Talley, & Benjamin, 2006). Such a review is of interest to a broad range of disciplines invested in understanding why and when individuals engage in bullying acts, including developmental and social–personality psychology as well as sociology, psychiatry, and forensics. In the present work, we conducted a literature review on personality, bullying, and victimization behavior that may guide further theorizing and research in a variety of basic and applied domains.
To provide an integrated understanding of the ways personality may influence bullying behavior, we also performed a meta-analysis of the relevant empirical studies. By doing so, we hoped to reveal which personality variables are associated with bullying and/or victimization behavior. To sharpen our focus, we included only those personality variables theorized to be associated with bullying behavior. Thus, we limited our search according to two important points. First, we did not include studies in which it was unclear whether there is a theoretical association between personality variables (i.e., Machiavellism) and bullying and/or victimization (e.g., Andreou, 2000, Sutton and Keogh, 2000). Second, studies that measured subtypes of bullying (i.e., physical, verbal, sexual, cyber-bullying) were also excluded.
In the following sections, we first define some relevant terms. Next, we discuss the Big-Five factor model of personality (BF), and describe how it might guide our understanding of the relationships between personality traits, bullying, and victimization behavior. Finally, we review the research on each of the personality variables included in the meta-analysis, thereby providing a thorough review of the relevant literature.
Section snippets
Definition of personality, bullying and victimization behavior
Personality is defined as “a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person's characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings” (Allport, 1961, p. 48). We use the term personality dimensions when referring to the constructs identified by the BF and the term personality variables when referring to the measured constructs available in the empirical literature on bullying behavior. The personality variables that adhered to our inclusion
The Big Five factor model related to bullying
The Big-Five factor model (BF; Costa & McCrae, 1997), a prominent theory of personality dimensions, is useful for understanding the link between personality and aggressive behavior (Jensen-Campbell and Graziano, 2001, Miller et al., 2003). The major personality dimensions in the BF are Neuroticism (or Emotional Instability), Extraversion (or Energy), Conscientiousness, Agreeableness (or Friendliness), and Openness to Experience; each dimension is represented by six facets (McCrae and Costa, 1987
Personality variables in the current meta-analysis
Research on BF suggests that the Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Extraversion dimensions may predict bullying and victimization. As noted, however, little, if any, empirical literature confirms this relationship. Because some studies in our meta-analysis have assessed personality variables, such as cognitive and affective empathy, and measured bullying behavior, the meta-analysis has the potential to isolate relations between cognitive and affective empathy, bullying and victimization behavior.
Gender and age differences related to bullying and victimization
Thus far, many researchers have agreed that there are differences in the way males and females bully, how they are bullied, and what they are bullied about. One common distinction is between physical bullying, such as hitting, kicking and punching, and verbal or psychological bullying, such as name calling, exclusion, gossip, and rumor spreading. Farrington (1993) stated that physical bullying prevails among males and psychological bullying among females. Olweus (1978) found that boys engage in
The present study
In the present study, we meta-analytically examine the associations between personality traits and variables and bullying behavior. Our study has the capacity to refine theories of bullying in several ways. First, because at least some personality variables are expected predictors of bullying and victimization behavior, a literature review will document the need for theories of bullying to articulate how and why these personality variables influence observable behavior. Second, the
Search and selection of studies
As part of this review, materials from experts on the methods of meta-analysis were used (Cooper and Hedges, 1994, Lipsey and Wilson, 2001). The first step was to locate potential studies for inclusion which included sufficient quantitative data on bullying and/or victimization published in English from 1970 to mid-2012. Specifically, multiple search methods were used in order to avoid publication bias of retrieving only the studies that were published due to significant results and larger
Demographic and study design characteristics of included samples
Table 2 provides an overview of the descriptive information of the 27 samples. A summary of these characteristics reveals that most of the 27 samples were very recent, with 2007 as the median year of publication. With respect to the location of those studies examining bullying and victimization, 70.4% were conducted in Europe, 11.1% in the United States, and 18.5% in other various nations (3 in Australia and 2 in Canada). The total sample examined was 3198 children and adolescents, with an
Discussion
On the basis of our literature review on bullying literature, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify and assess some personality predictors of bullying and/or victimization drawing on research published over the past 30 years. We hypothesized that some personality dimensions and variables would be positively and other negatively associated with bullying and/or victimization. This hypothesis is consistent with other studies (e.g., ⁎Jolliffe and Farrington, 2006a, ⁎Jolliffe and Farrington, 2011,
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This research was supported in part by a scholarship to the first author from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Greece. The first author wishes to thank Dr. C. Dolan and Dr. J. Wicherts for valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.
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References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.